About the Center for Financial Markets

The Center for Financial Markets promotes financial market understanding and works to expand access to capital, strengthen—and deepen—financial markets, and develop innovative financial solutions to the most pressing global challenges. Learn more about our programs.

Financial Regulation for the 21st Century

Featured

Bitcoin's emergence in the zeitgeist began in a quiet corner of Europe in March 2013. Reeling from a banking crisis, the Government of Cyprus did the unthinkable for a Eurozone economy: it imposed a two-week holiday on domestic banks, levied a 10 percent tax on uninsured deposits and imposed strict capital controls. With that move, Cypriots, as well as their vulnerable neighbors in the Eurozone's southern periphery, came to realize that no government can be fully trusted to honor the savings of ordinary people.

Deep, liquid capital markets are fundamental to economic growth because they help channel the domestic savings of a nation to their most productive uses, and in so doing enable the private sector to invest, produce, and create jobs. But while much work has been done on improving the investment climate in developing countries for institutional investors, less work has focused on the institutional investors themselves.

In this landscape, more than 70 U.S.-based online, non-bank financing platforms are profiled. Given the variety of business models, products, and practices associated with the non-bank financing space, it is incumbent upon regulators and policymakers to understand these distinctions in developing oversight frameworks that support innovation while ensuring sufficient protections for borrowers and investors.

Expert Spotlight

Aron Betru

Managing Director, Center for Financial Markets

Aron Betru is managing director of the Center for Financial Markets at the Milken Institute, where he leads strategic initiatives focused on expanding and leveraging resources to enhance social impact.